


Dark Things

by ozuttly



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Kagami and Aomine team up to solve Aomine's untimely murder, M/M, Mystery, Not really an AU, Poor Kagami gets the short end of the stick, Vampires, Violence, dark themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-10 18:22:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2035308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozuttly/pseuds/ozuttly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Aomine starts skipping school and practices again shortly after the winter cup, Momoi is incredibly distraught. He's been ignoring her calls and texts, and nobody knows where he is.</p>
<p>That is, until he walks out of Kagami's neighbour's apartment, acting strange, and Seirin's Ace realizes that this might be about a whole lot more than basketball.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was a pretty normal day, to begin with. Seirin's practice had been a touch more rigorous than usual (a result of losing a recent practice game against Shuutoku; Riko had accused them of slacking off after their recent winter cup win) and Kagami's calves were aching as he and Kuroko sat down in their usual booth at Maji Burger, but otherwise, nothing was out of the ordinary. 

The month since winning the Winter Cup had been, on a whole, surprisingly uneventful. Kagami had wondered if things would change after becoming 'number one in japan', but in the end, they really hadn't. Teppei was no longer playing, having gone to finally get surgery on his knee, but everything else was the same. Riko was still kicking their ass at practice, Kuroko was still startling him from behind, Nigou was still nipping at his pantlegs when he wasn't looking.   
He and Kuroko still went out for burgers after practice. The sameness of it all was comforting. 

Kagami was half-way through his sixth burger when Kuroko (only a vanilla shake, tch. He was going to be taken away by the breeze one of these days) paused, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. Kagami raised an eyebrow, but he waved one hand and directed his attention elsewhere when Kuroko gave him a look.   
The smaller boy answered with a small 'hello', and Kagami could vaguely make out a distinctly feminine voice on the other side, but he couldn't understand what she was saying. Not that he wanted to eavesdrop anyways, although he was a bit curious when he noticed Kuroko's shoulders tense out of the corner of his eye. 

Seirin's shadow didn't show emotion very often, and the visible downwards pull of his mouth, the tightening of a muscle in his jaw, was enough to tell Kagami that the call was serious. 

Feeling awkward, Kagami turned back to his burgers, unwrapping the seventh as Kuroko quietly finished up his phone call. His tone was soft and reassuring, and then there was an audible beep as he hung up and slipped the device back into his pocket. His eyes were slightly apologetic as he turned back to Kagami, already standing up to leave. 

"I'm sorry, Kagami-kun, I need to leave early. Hopefully we can eat together another time," he said as he gathered up his bags, and Kagami nodded, concern creeping up into his chest at the way his friend was behaving. 

"No, of course, that's fine," he replied, setting his burger down on the table. The last thing he wanted was for Kuroko to feel pressured into staying for his sake. Kuroko's shoulders, previously tight and stiff, loosened ever so slightly at the gesture. "Is, uh, is everything alright?"

There was that little frown again, and Kuroko's eyebrows drew together as he hesitated for a moment. Kagami was about to tell him that it was ok, he didn't have to say anything, but then he seemed to change his mind. 

"That was Momoi-san. Apparently Aomine-kun has been skipping practices again." He sounded sad as he said it, and Kagami felt anger and frustration bubble up in him. "But he's also been skipping classes, and ignoring her messages. Nobody on Touou's team has seen him for more than a week." Kuroko sighed softly, his shoulders slumping even more. "He hasn't been home in three days, either. Momoi-san asked me to come with her to search his usual hang-outs, as his parents are very worried." 

Kuroko looked so tired, and Kagami could sort of understand how he feels. 

Aomine had finally gotten himself back on track. He'd finally started to /enjoy/ basketball again, yet now he seemed to have fallen even farther than before. But this time, there was no trigger, no slow decline. It was frustrating, infuriating even, but at the same time exhausting. Kagami doesn't want Kuroko to have to worry about picking Aomine up out of his slump again. He grinds his teeth, but schools the anger out of his face when Kuroko looks at him with concern. 

"It's ok," Kagami said at first, then stopped and felt his cheeks turning pink. "I mean, it's not your fault that idiot's causing trouble for everyone again. Let Momoi know that if I see him, I'll kick his ass and send him back for her." 

Kuroko's lips pulled up into a little smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling, and Kagami felt some of the frustration melt away.   
"I'll tell her that, then. But Kagami-kun, please don't overestimate your ability to beat Aomine-kun in a fight," he replied, but there was a smile in his eyes, and Kagami just snorted and glowered at his little quip. 

"Oh, go away," he grumbled, and Kuroko didn't laugh - he almost never, ever laughed - but there was an amused air around him as he threw his bag over his shoulder and exited the restaurant. Kagami stared disinterestedly at the window, watching him leave before he finally turned back to his burgers. There was four left, but the grease had started to thicken and they didn't look nearly as appetizing as they had a moment ago. He tried to stare them into submission, but soon gave up and piled them back into his to-go bag.

God damn that Aomine, even when he wasn't around he was causing problems. Kagami couldn't even eat dinner in peace without him mucking things up. 

Not that he hated Aomine, he thought as he exits Maji and began the short walk back to his apartment. He hated his attitude, sure, but he could also kind of, sort of maybe understand how that came about. What bothered him the most about this recent news, bothered him even more than Aomine's attitude in their first match when he single-handedly crushed Kagami one on one, more than how he'd shown up late for their first official game and still destroyed Seirin without difficulty, was the fact that they couldn't /do/ anything about it. He thought that he and Kuroko had finally managed, together, to pull Aomine out of his rut, but in the end it was useless, and they were right back where they started. 

It made Kagami feel useless and irritated, even more than when he lost a game. He didn't understand it, and his own helplessness just made it worse. It turned into anger, and he ground his teeth all the way to his apartment. 

He was fishing through his pockets for his set of keys, mouth drawn in an angry line when the door next to him swung open.  
He was expecting his neighbour (a friendly, perky college student with a suffocatingly sunny disposition that sometimes reminded him of Kise, though she herself was brunette rather than blond) to poke her head out and warn him of the dangers of coming home so late. She did it quite often, and Kagami would usually just smile awkwardly (it looked more like a grimace) and thank her for her concern while neglecting to mention that 8pm wasn't really all that late. 

What he wasn't expecting was Aomine Daiki to step out into the hallway, dark circles under his eyes and a pair of keys in his hand as he closed the door behind him and stooped to lock it. 

Kagami froze in place, unable to form words as he watched the other ace freeze, his entire body going still before he slowly turned and looked up. He locked eyes with Kagami, who felt stuck in place himself, his breath caught in his throat as they stared at one another.  
Neither one of them moved. 

In a shocking development, Aomine was the one who looked away first, shoving the keys into his pocket and trying to push past Kagami as though nothing had happened. 

All of the fury, the anger and indignation and helpless failure that Kagami had felt earlier that evening while watching Kuroko talk to Momoi on the phone, the feeling of having accomplished nothing came flooding back to him, and he grabbed hold of Aomine's jacket, yanking back as hard as he could. 

“You--!” He snarled, pulling Aomine back and slamming him up against the door he just walked out of. “What the hell are you doing here, you bastard?! Momoi's been worried sick about you!” 

Aomine looked shocked for a split second, but then his face went back to dark and disinterested, that carefully constructed bored look that he used to wear during matches before Touou lost to Seirin. 

“So?” He said flatly, and Kagami felt the breath eek out of his lungs. Aomine sighed and scratched the back of his head, but he was expertly avoiding the other ace's gaze. “Man, Satsuki is being annoying as ever. I told her I wasn't going to go to practice. She's not my mom, I don't need to check in with her before doing anything.” 

Kagami felt what little control he had slipping, and he wanted nothing more than to punch Aomine in the face. How dare he treat Momoi like that, how dare he throw aside her concern, throw aside Kuroko's concern, throw aside everything the two of them had done to try and HELP him-!!

But then he stopped, because while he might not be the smartest person around, being best friends with Kuroko has done wonders for Kagami's observation skills. Any other person might have missed the constant but subtle twitches in Aomine's fingers, the way his hands were trembling the tiniest bit, his nostrils flaring and pupils more dilated than necessary, even in the dark hallway. 

Anger on behalf of Kuroko disappears, and instead Kagami feels a different emotion, something dark and festering as he slowly lets go of Aomine's collar. 

“You... Are you on drugs?” He asked, his voice quiet, and Aomine's head snapped up as though Kagami had just accused him of murder. There was something behind his eyes, something between fear and anger and insult, and for a moment Kagami thought he was going to bare his teeth at him. 

“Fuck off, Kagami,” he snapped, and went to push past him. Kagami tried to stop him again, but this time Aomine shook him off easily as he heads for the stairs. 

“You--! What the fuck is wrong with you, Aomine?!” he snapped, clenching his fists as he tried for the jacket again, but he missed as the other expertly ducked out of the way.  
“Seriously?! You're ditching your teammates, skipping school and doing drugs?! I know you feel fed up with basketball, but for fuck's sake, don't you care at all?!” He was getting madder and madder, and he didn't like the way his voice did something funny, almost cracked a little bit. “Didn't our game MEAN something?! Did Kuroko's effort mean nothing to you at all, you fucking asshole?!” 

Aomine stopped again, freezing as though all of his muscles are stuck, but then he turned back around slowly, ever so slowly. 

Kagami's face was red up to his ears, and he couldn't believe he said something that embarrassing out loud, but then Aomine grabbed him and dragged him back to his neighbour's apartment. Kagami did NOT yelp, but he did let out a startled sort of noise as the door was unlocked and he was unceremoniously shoved inside before he could even ask what the hell is going on. 

“Damnit, you're one of the last people I wanted to run into. Only thing worse would be Satsuki or Tetsu” Aomine was grumbling under his breath as he locked the door again once the two of them are inside. It was dark, and he didn't make a move for the light switch, so Kagami went for it instead. It was slowly starting to sink in, how strange the situation was, how utterly bizarre it was for Aomine to even be in his neighbourhood, let alone his apartment complex. He wondered where the college girl is, why she wasn't objecting to all of this. 

Aomine grabbed his hand before he could turn on the lights. 

“That's not a good idea,” he said, and for once Kagami thought that he actually sounded uncertain, like he didn't have the situation completely under control. Now that they were touching directly, skin to skin, Aomine's hand was incredibly cold, and Kagami shivered despite himself as he shrugged it off. He should turn on the light; it was too dark in there to see anything, and he could only barely make out Aomine's form in front of him, made big and bulky by the jacket he's wearing.  
It was unnerving. 

“What are you even trying to do, Aomine?” Kagami asked, his voice cautious, because this isn't the situation he was expecting. Normally, he would have beaten Aomine up and shipped him back to Momoi, just like he'd promised Kuroko. But right now, he felt something tingling at the base of his spine, making him want to run away.  
Even his own instincts were pissing him off tonight. 

“I'm not on drugs,” Aomine said, his voice sharp, and Kagami screwed his eyebrows together in confusion. 

“You're... What?” 

“I'm not on drugs, you idiot,” He snapped again, leaning in closer so Kagami could make out the details of his face. “I'm not ditching Satsuki or practice because I /want/ to, ok?” 

He paused, bit his lower lip and ran one hand over his face. He looked genuinely distressed, and Kagami wasn't sure how he was meant to comfort him. He'd never been good at that, making people feel better. But Aomine, for all that he was trying to show bravado earlier, was definitely not himself right now, and Kagami wondered just /what/ happened in the past week to bring him this low. 

He decided to forget about the drug accusation for now, tried to make his voice softer, but he was still gruff when he spoke again. 

“So...? What, uh... What happened?” Kagami was really starting to wonder where his neighbour was, and why Aomine had the key in the first place. The overwhelming sense of 'off' was back and fresh in his mind, and Aomine sighed. 

“I'm not on drugs,” he repeated for the third time, and Kagami was about to yell that he got it already, he didn't have to say it again, but then Aomine reached for the light switch and flicked it on. 

The apartment was red. 

There were splatters on the wall, on the floor, seeping into the carpet in the nearby living room. The college girl Kagami had been looking for was laying on the couch, her blouse soaked in blood and a half-assed, already-dirtied bandage wrapped around her slim neck. 

Kagami's stomach dropped down to the soles of his feet, and he felt his seven burgers from earlier rising to his throat. He looked back at Aomine, saw the stains, almost invisible on the black fabric of his shirt as he shrugs off the winter coat. Kagami wanted to run, but Aomine was standing between him and the door, eyes narrowed and agitation clear on his face. 

“I'm fucking dead, ok?” He said, pulling down his turtleneck and pointing to two tiny, pinprick scars on the side of his neck.

Kagami saw them and upchucked all over the already bloody floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, I hope this second chapter lives up to all your expectations. :)

Aomine looked down at Kagami, hunched over and clutching his stomach as he emptied its contents onto the blood-stained rug. Emotions swam across his face – pity, annoyance, understanding, frustration, sympathy – but in the end he just scrunched up his nose and muttered, 'gross'. 

He slipped off his shoes and headed back into the apartment, wandering into the kitchen and coming back with a roll of paper towels that he unceremoniously tossed at Kagami's head. 

“Quit puking, you're gonna make it hard to clean up after,” he demanded, and Kagami finally looked up at him, his mouth wet and eyes watering despite the fire burning behind them. 

“You... Of course I'm going to throw up, you jerk!” He shouted, pointing at accusing finger while he grabbed the paper towels with his other hand to wipe his face and blow his nose. “You... You disappear for a week without telling anyone, and then when you show back up, you say you're /dead/! Who does that?! And you...” He felt his breath hitch as he glanced back to the living room. He lowered his voice, then, suddenly aware of how relatively thin the walls were. “You fucking /killed/ my neighbour!” 

Kagami had never been particularly close to the girl, but she had been nice; she didn't deserve this, whatever this was. For a moment, shock and hurt passed across Aomine's face, but then they were gone as he pushed his hair back out of his face, sighing heavily.

“Ok, first of all, I didn't kill her,” he snapped, stepping in closer and pulling Kagami up to his feet, being careful to avoid the pool of vomit. “She's... she /was/ still alive, at least when I left, and I was going to call an ambulance, but then you showed up and ruined everything.” He spat out the last few words like an accusation, and even in this bizarre of a situation, Kagami felt his hackles raise at the implications. 

“Oh no, no, this is not my fault! It is not my fault that you went and, and, attacked some random person! Don't you dare try to pin this on me, you jerk, this is /your/ fault!” His voice was an angry hiss, and he could see the spark of anger as Aomine stepped in closer, puffing out his chest in intimidation. 

“Are you serious? It's not /my/ fault! I never asked for this to happen, and I certainly never get mad at /you/ for eating.” He snorted, crossing his arms over his chest, content at the jab, but then Kagami's face went white as he looked down at the chunks of vomit on the carpet, the whole situation sinking in once more. Aomine's eyes widened and he quickly grabbed him as he went to retch again, grumbling as he quickly led him away from the entrance-way and into the washroom. He patted Kagami on the back as he threw up again, awkwardly rubbing soothing circles into his shoulders. 

It was what Satsuki had done for him, after he'd broken into his dad's liquor cabinet on his fifteenth birthday and drank himself into a frenzy. Kagami was clutching the toilet bowl, his knuckles white, and Aomine couldn't help but exhale deeply. 

He'd accused Kagami of ruining his plans earlier, but truth be told, it wasn't like he really /had/ a plan to begin with. This wasn't exactly how he'd planned on spending the end of his first year in high school. In a way, running into Kagami had helped. Even after finding out, he'd still treated him almost the same as always. Sure, he was freaked out, but they were /both/ freaked out, and the familiarity of their interactions kept Aomine grounded. It kept him from the breakdown that he was very close to having, somewhere deep inside where it felt like his feelings were being pushed down and muted and smothered. 

The tension bled out of Kagami's shoulders, and he slumped against the toilet, still heaving but with nothing coming out. They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Kagami turned his head to look up at Aomine from the corner of his eye. 

“....How'd it happen?” He asked, his voice strangely quiet, and Aomine didn't like how gentle he was being.

“Dunno,” he muttered, and Kagami growled. 

“How do you /not know/? Isn't that kind of an important detail?!” He looked both exasperated and yet, at the same time, not entirely surprised. But the comment struck a nerve. Aomine flashed the slightest hint of a fanged grimace, and he hated the way that Kagami stiffened under his fingers at the sight. It was only then that he realized his hand was still resting between Kagami's shoulderblades, and he pulled it back immediately.

“I just don't know, ok? God, you're annoying,” He snapped, and Kagami looked like he wanted to push, wanted to yell at him that he /had/ to know, you wouldn't just forget something like that, but something in Aomine's face must have given him pause. He opened his mouth and closed it, screwing his eyebrows together and repeating the action a few times before letting out a frustrated groan and letting his forehead fall back to the toilet seat with a slight clunk. 

Aomine shoved his hands into his pockets and pointedly looked away, the silence between them quickly becoming awkward. 

That is, until there was a weak whimper from the adjacent living room, and both of their heads snapped up in unison. 

“Oh god,” Kagami began, scrambling to get to his feet and pull his phone from his pocket. “Ambulance. We need to call an ambulance--!”

Aomine's eyes widened and he grabbed for the phone, snagging the redhead's wrist when Kagami deftly moved out of the way. 

“We can't call an ambulance /now/, you idiot!” Aomine snapped, growling as Kagami tried to yank his hand back and dial, and the two of them ended up playing a very unpleasant game of keep away that turned into smart phone tug-of-war. 

“She's gonna /die/, you moron!” Kagami all but roared, and Aomine wanted to smack him in the head because /didn't he know that people were going to get worried if he kept yelling like that?/

“Yeah, but you went and puked all over the place! If we call someone now, they'll bring the police, and they'll get like... DNA and stuff!” He snapped in return, and /that/ made Kagami still, eyes widening as he realized the full implications of what he said. He almost seemed to squirm in place, eyes darting back and forth like a worried animal before he came to a decision and turned around so suddenly that he almost ended up smacking head-first into Aomine, who was waiting bathroom door. 

The tanned male growled, about to tell Kagami to watch were he was going before he made things even /worse/, but the redhead quickly grabbed him and pushed him back into the main room, then out into the hall. 

“Drop the key,” Kagami all but demanded, and it made Aomine want to fight him and tell him that he didn't take orders from /him/, some upstart kid from America who nobody had ever heard of before this year, but Kagami downright glowered at him so he dug into his pocket and pulled out the key he'd swiped the night before. He made a show of dropping it on the welcome mat, then stifled a yelp as Kagami grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him into the next doorway over. 

There was a lot of grunting and ungraceful shoving before Kagami finally managed to get Aomine into the apartment, pointing a finger into his face with a firm but low order to 'stay here and don't do anything'. Aomine glowered at him, clearly not pleased with being ordered around /again/, but he did as he was told anyways. He slipped his shoes off, then wandered to the bedroom, wrinkling his nose as he stepped inside. 

It was always weird, going into other peoples' houses now. Bedrooms smelled private and intimate, a mix of sweat, perfume and the underlying, unique scent each person always had. Kagami's bedroom smelled like sweat and leather and old basketball shoes, which should have been revolting but was instead familiar and almost calming. The fact that the smell didn't annoy him annoyed him, and he grumbled as he walked over and flopped down on the bed like he owned the place. 

He was dozing, wondering what Kagami was doing when the sirens sounded less than ten minutes later, and he's sure that his heart would be pounding if it was still beating. 

That idiot, he told him /not/ to call the ambulance! Aomine found himself gritting his teeth, debating whether or not he should take off out the window. Kagami was probably going to get arrested or something (which was NOT his fault, the idiot should have listened before calling the damned cops!) and Aomine did not want to be around if the police stormed his apartment. But, on the other hand, if Kagami wasn't arrested (which was unlikely) and came back to find him gone, he might do the worst thing ever and call Tetsu. Or worse, Satsuki. 

They were the last people he wanted to get caught up in this bullshit, and so it was with them in mind that he waited.

At first he tried to just sleep, but the anxious feeling in his chest wouldn't let him. (He wasn't worried, of course, but he had to be ready to make a getaway in case things turned bad.) After a while he decided to look around the room, searching under Kagami's mattress to see if the other teenager had any porn hidden there – he didn't – and after a half-hearted ten minute search, he settled down in the bed again with a well-worn basketball magazine from the other side of the room. 

He was tapping his fingers irritatedly, glancing up at the clock every five minutes or so, when the door opened again almost five hours later. Aomine froze, eyes glued to the bedroom door as a very disgruntled Kagami threw the door open a few seconds later. There were dark circles under his eyes – almost matching Aomine's own, he realized with a little snort – and his stupid eyebrows were drawn together in a ferocious scowl. Aomine stared back at him, not sure what to say or do, swallowing thickly before Kagami just sighed, and all of the anger and tension bled out of him like the air leaking out of a balloon. 

“I fixed your mess,” he growled bitterly as he walked over to the bed, giving Aomine a look like he half wanted to shove him out of it.

Aomine, however, just blinked slowly, like he didn't really understand what Kagami was saying. Kagami's frown deepened, and he just plopped down on the floor instead, resting his back up against the mattress tiredly. A glance at the clock said that it was almost two in the morning, so being tired wasn't really surprising. 

“I called the ambulance, and when the police came, I told them that I saw the key in the hall, got worried and went inside to check on my neighbour. The door was unlocked, and when I saw what happened inside, I got sick.” Kagami explained it like it was nothing, and Aomine looked down at him, more than a little surprised as he continued. “They brought me down for questioning and called my parents, but they couldn't prove I did anything, so they eventually let me go.” He tilted his head back and glowered. “You better thank me, Aomine, because I almost got arrested trying to save your ass.” 

Aomine said nothing for a good long moment, just looked at him, searching his expression and face for the catch. He looked over Kagami's shoulder at the door, like he was expecting fifty cops to come storming in, and when they didn't, he looked back to Kagami again, his expression far more subdued. 

“...Thank you,” he mumbled, and it was Kagami's turn to look surprised, his cheeks colouring as he quickly looked away. 

“D-don't actually thank me, you idiot! It's embarrassing!”   
Aomine snorted, a little confused by how pleased that reaction made him, so he rolled over on the bed and studied the wall instead. 

“You said I should,” he offered, listening to Kagami sputter a little behind him. He chuckled under his breath, his shoulders relaxing as Kagami quieted, his weight shifting against the mattress as he turned around to face Aomine's back. 

“...So what do we do now?” Kagami asked, sounding a bit awkward, as if he wasn't sure if he should bring it up or not. Aomine stiffened, but he didn't otherwise make any indication that it bothered him, so Kagami took it as a signal to continue. “I mean... Kuroko and Momoi are worried about you. I need to tell them what's--”

Kagami's breath rushed out of him in an instant as Aomine dove off the bed, tackling him to the floor. He gasped for air, his head hitting the floor with a dull clunk as he was pinned. His vision swam for a moment, but when it came back into focus, he saw two dark blue eyes staring at him as though they could kill. 

“Don't you even /dare/,” Aomine hissed, his voice low and deadly, and Kagami swallowed, trying to will his heart to stop pounding in his chest at the sight. Aomine's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, the temperature in the room seeming to drop as the situation shifted. The almost amiable atmosphere from before was gone in an instant. 

Kagami wasn't scared, he couldn't allow himself to be scared. If he got scared, then they would both lose control of the situation, and things would just get worse. He inhaled slowly, eyes flickering to where Aomine was holding his wrists against the ground, to where he had his knees on either side of Kagami's waist. He could maybe buck him off if he tried, but something in the back of Kagami's mind told him that antagonizing Aomine right now would be a very, very bad idea. 

“You scared of me, Kagami?” Aomine's voice was right next to his ear, snapping him out of his thoughts. His breath was cool, and Kagami squirmed at the feel of it. Aomine's grip on his wrists tightened, his head dipping to the junction of Kagami's neck, his nose tickling the base of his earlobe. 

“No,” Kagami lied, his heart beating a mile a minute, and Aomine squeezed him once more, teeth dragging along the sensitive skin of his throat. Kagami's breath hitched at the feeling, and the desire to struggle and flee was overwhelming.

“Liar,” Aomine whispered, but there was something in his voice, something angry and frustrated and hurt and barely there at all, that made Kagami stop just as he was about to buck up and try to escape. 

Kagami swallowed once more, feeling Aomine's lips press against his neck at the motion. He had no idea what to do, his mind clouded with fear and adrenaline and something else, prompted by the feeling of Aomine's thumb pressing circles into his wrist, by wet breath on his neck and the press of a cool body up against his own. So he decided to do the first thing he could think of, tilting his head back and baring his neck in surrender. 

“I'm not scared of you,” he said, keeping his voice as steady as he could as he felt Aomine freeze, going stalk still at the sign of submission. Kagami struggled to keep his head clear, opening his eyes and gazing at Aomine, keeping his head poised up. “If I was scared of your ass, I wouldn't have come back, moron.”

Aomine's hands trembled ever so slightly, but his grip stayed sure. Kagami exhaled, feeling the sweat that had been beading on his brow trickle down the side of his face and neck to where Aomine's lips were still pressed against his skin, mouth closed, neither biting nor threatening to. Due to the strained position, Kagami couldn't see Aomine's eyes, but so far he wasn't attacking him, so that was a good sign. 

“Kuroko cares about you a lot, so of course I'm going to help you. And... I still owe you. You know, for lending me your shoes.” His cheeks were turning pink now, their position becoming more embarrassing than threatening, and Aomine snorted against his skin. He finally released Kagami's wrists and sat up, his expression exasperated, but there was a hint of fondness and relief there too. Seeing him look like that made Kagami's heart thump again, and he broke eye contact first as Aomine crawled off of him, flopping down on the floor. The blankets had fallen from the bed to the floor during their short scuffle, and Kagami quickly got to his feet, busying himself with righting them. 

“You're an idiot,” Aomine retorted, but there was no malice in the expression. Kagami glared at him, but there was no real anger in it. Silence reigned between the two of them for over a minute before Aomine spoke again, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. “I don't want Tetsu and Satsuki to know.” 

Kagami watched him, looking for all the world like he didn't approve, but rather than disagreeing his just sighed, shaking his head. 

“Fine. But... I'm no good at lying, so don't blame me if Kuroko finds out or something,” He replied, and Aomine nodded his head. Glad that an agreement was reached between them, Kagami sat down and yawned, stretching. “By the way... Are you gonna burst into flames or something in the morning? I don't have a coffin but you can sleep on the couch while I'm at school if you want.” 

The look on Aomine's face was worth the painful pinch he gave to the meat of his calf.

**Author's Note:**

> currently not being worked on


End file.
